9
Dec

Hitman

   Posted by: Fence   in Moving Pictures

Dir: Xavier Gens
Writ: Skip Woods, based on game

  • Timothy Olyphant … Agent 47
  • Dougray Scott … Mike Whittier
  • Olga Kurylenko … Nika Boronina
  • Robert Knepper … Yuri Marklov
  • Ulrich Thomsen … Mikhail Belicoff
  • Henry Ian Cusick … Udre Belicoff

To be honest I never thought I’d be bothered to see this film. The trailers made it look ridiculous, and not in a good way, but we were going, and it was at the right time, so we figured what the hell. And I’m glad we did go, because while is makes no sense and is incredibly silly it was also fairly entertaining and funny.

Agent 47 is an assassin. A very good one, brought up by The Organisation to be nothing but an assassin. But when a job supposedly goes wrong he finds that his own “client” has set him up, and he is in a desperate fight to stay alive. And of course there is a pretty girl to bring out his “softer side”. Dougray Scott plays the Interpol agent determined to find and bring this international hitman to justice. Agent 47 must also stay one step ahead of the law.

It all sounds like tosh. And it really really is. But the film never takes itself too seriously, and a lot of the reactions from the characters seem very natural. Even the “love interest” isn’t just there to be pretty. Okay so she doesn’t have a whole lot to do, but its just enough to keep her from bring entirely redundant.

Of course a major problem with the film is that I don’t think Olyphant works as Agent 47, physically speaking. He can’t carry off the bald head with enough menace. But then again the film isn’t really about being menacing, it is about stylish looking violence, and once you get past the slap-headedness, Olyphant does enough. It’ll never win any awards, and I wouldn’t be bothered to watch it again, but I wouldn’t run away from it either. Mindless fun, and if some of it is unintentional? well, who really cares.

IMDb ; Metacritic ; Slice of SciFi

Tags: 6 Stars, action, based on game, Dougray Scott, Henry Ian Cusick, hitman, mindless fun, Olga Kurylenko, R16, Rovert Knepper, Skip Woods, Timothy Olyphant, Ulrich Thomsen, Xavier Gens

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 9th, 2007 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Moving Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 comments so far

no imagejean pierre (Check me out!)
 1 
MyAvatars 0.2

i rather fancy seeing this too. it looks like great fun! and the fact that you say it doesn’t take itself too seriously is really a good thing!

but then, i feel the same as you about casting olyphant. he’s obviously good and they thought it might lend the role solidity, but then, for me he just doesn’t look like the bloke in the game…

Rate this:
2.5
December 10th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
no imageweenie (Check me out!)
 2 
MyAvatars 0.2

I fancy seeing this but don’t know if any of my friends want to see it. It’s the kind of mindless action that my brain is sort of receptive to right now! :)

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2.5
December 11th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
no imageCarl V. (Check me out!)
 3 
MyAvatars 0.2

I will certainly see this on DVD, but don’t plan on catching it at the theatre. My main reason not to spend that money is that, eventhough I’ve enjoyed Olyphant in other films, I agree that he just does not carry this look off well. I’ve played one of the Hitman games and loved it and thought it was cool that they were doing the film, but I wish they had gotten someone who has a tougher look about them. Glad you had fun with it as I am sure I will whenever I finally see it.

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2.5
December 11th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
no imageFence (Check me out!)
 4 
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I’ve never played the game, so amn’t really familiar with the character, but Olyphant just doesn’t look intimidating when bald.

@ weenie: Mindless action is very much where this is at.

@ Carl: yeah, I don’t think I’d've paid out actual money, but with the Cineworld card I can go see crappy films and it doesn’t cost any extra, so its all good.

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2.5
December 12th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
no imageCarl V. (Check me out!)
 5 
MyAvatars 0.2

Free makes it all better, that is for sure!

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2.5
December 14th, 2007 at 1:41 am
no imageFence (Check me out!)
 6 
MyAvatars 0.2

It does, doesn’t it?

Rate this:
2.5
December 14th, 2007 at 10:18 am

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